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NBA Picks

Heat vs. Pistons - NBA Betting Picks, February 3rd

The Miami offense has fallen off a cliff lately, and now they have to face off against a newly re-energized Pistons team on the second night of a back-to-back. Not only that, but their best player Hassan Whiteside had to leave last night’s game, and if he misses, the Pistons are a strong value.

With the addition of Blake Griffin, the Pistons are going to turn over a new leaf. While Griffin has a ton of haters around the world, his talent and playing ability is second to very few people in the league, especially in Detroit.

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At home against a tired team coming off a poor loss, I like the Pistons a lot tonight. Griffin may not be a great defender, but his presence in a frontcourt with Andre Drummond might be one of the best in the NBA.

Coming off last night, the Heat won’t have much of an answer for the Pistons, especially if Whiteside is forced to sit due to illness. The Heat frontcourt is very good defensively, but as a team, the Heat fall off a lot of Whiteside is not on the court.

According to Basketball-Reference, without Whiteside on the court, the Heat’s defensive rating goes up from 103.4 to 107.6. Against a center like Drummond and a power forward like Griffin, that’s bad news if Whiteside sits.

It will likely come down to a game-time decision, but after watching Griffin drop 24 points and 10 rebounds in his first game against the Grizzlies, the potential of Griffin and Drummond dominating the Heat tonight is really good.